Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
Waiting to board a flight to Scotland and about 50 people pre boarded when they called “disability and active duty military.” That isn’t an exaggeration. The vast majority seemed to be Citadel students (based on their sweatshirts) and their girlfriends. Does this count as active duty military?
Back to OP, this is a public college with a ROTC program. It's up to UA to decide what constitutes "active military" but I suppose the local personnel decided (smartly, I might add) to not disrupt boarding and let it slide versus causing a scene that would have inevitably ended up all over social media and caused a not insignificant PR mess for the company.
If it were my airline, active duty military would mean you're fully-fledged, active-duty Army, AF, Navy, or Marine with ID traveling under orders and you would receive the respect of every employee in the gate area and aircraft.
The above case seems to be some study-abroad group or alumni junket.